Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Where is the anti-matter?

When the universe was created both matter and anti-matter popped into existence. This is normally followed by mutual annihilation as they recombine and cancel each other out. The fact that our universe still exists gives rise to the question as to what happened to the antimatter.

One possible answer could involve the expansion speed of the accelerating universe. Under the theory known as inflation, it is believed that the universe for a time, expanded faster than the speed of light. The speed of light limitation apparently applies only to matter, but not to empty space itself.

If inflation happened soon enough it could have placed sufficient distance between the matter and anti-matter such that it has not yet destroyed the universe. As we cannot see the antimatter it must be further away than 13.9 billion light years. The universe is 13.9 billion years old and light from the antimatter will therefore take at least another 13.9 billion years to reach us.

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